Saturday, October 3, 2009

WTF?

So Tove is off learning how to judge Tae-Kwon-Do competitions, and the kids are roaming the neighborhood like jackals (or maybe they're upstairs reading a book. Who knows? I take a "hands off" approach to parenting).

So I'm stalking the kitchen looking for food, my trusted canine companion by my side. My prey hides quietly on a remote shelf, but I outsmart the cardboard packaging easily (along with the NASA-designed internal metallic pouch), and am soon ready to feast on the guts of some random Indian lentil stew.

So I look inside, and in addition to the metallic pouch with the actual food, my meal has come with a CD full of (and I quote) "Authentic Indian Cuisine". No, wait! Underneath that it says "Indian Classical Duets".

Which brings me to today's title: "WTF?" Have I been leading an unusually sheltered life, and this is actually normal? What's next? Happy Meals that come with Beyonce CD's?

Now I'm intrigued, and considering going through our other indian ready-made meals. Was this a one-off? Or had I not just noticed before, and do all those $2.99 pre-made indian meal pouches come with these odd musical accompaniments?

Hands off approach to parenting? Kids have it too easy these days. My parents mastered the "hands on" method; they beat the crap out of me... and then beat me again for crying.

I'd encourage you to reconsider your parenting techniques and realize that you should be doing everything in your power to help mold future generations. Also, when they're teenagers, they'll probably deserve it anyways.

Mark: the CD I got is apparently "volume 5" in a series of these food accompaniments. It touts itself as a Jugalbandi of Shehnai (reed instrument) and Tabla (percussion).

At least that's what the packaging says. I couldn't tell a shehnai from a tree frog, and it sounded like the typical background sounds you might have at an Indian restaurant that tried to give you some "authentic" feel.

Shehnai is an oboe-like instrument; people who don't like it might describe it as sounding like a giant mosquito. If it's a jugalbandi (duet) there also ought to be a second melody instrument (e.g., sitar) in addition to the tabla.

I've never gotten a CD with my Indianfood pouches, but I've bought plenty of them (both pouces and CD's)..

In this weird country called Finland (Which you've probably never heard of) we get those crappy CDs in cereal boxes all the time, whether it be "Mix your own music!" in different genres like Pop, hiphop or whatever else there is, or a game that's got a very good reason to be given away. Yeah, it's pretty normal I guess, CDs are cheap.

The exact same thing happened to me and my family when we went on a camping trip to Cape Lookout on the Oregon Coast this past Summer! We started laughing, and popped the CD into the car CD player... the ragas were so-so, kinda like the curry they came in.

That was a great tell all on your quest to munch indian food.. we have those things pretty much since we were kids but they were mostly toys. None of them went with CD's probably because they were not invented yet LOL... anyway, goodluck with that music because I heard BOLLYWOOD is coming... they might give away free movie DVD's too...lucky you!

Jugalbandi is fusion.sehnai is more like a flute, if that sehnai is by Bismillah khan, then thats the best from Indian classical music, everything else I wont even touch.

Tabla is percussion, but i donno any western equivalent of this instrument, its more to keep timing and Rhythm. Again Tabla by Jakhir hussain is best one.But getting Jakhir hussain and Bismillah khan in some free CD is unlikely scenario.

Unlike Western Classical, Indian classical is __mostly__ not a team effort, most maestro would have their own individual skill perfected over decades of practice, and they all go solo.

And jugalbandi is when two or more musician(expert of their respective fields) come together to do some sort of fusion.

in order to enjoy a indian meal one must have the indian music playing in the background, is something you learn with experience in Indian restaurants.I wished one day i get that cd with my VINDALOO meals.Do you recall who is making such a magnificent meals?

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